Types of Medicare Plans

En español | Do you know that there are different ways you can get your Medicare health and prescription drug coverage? You can choose Original Medicare. This is the traditional fee-for-service plan provided by Medicare. Or, you can choose Medicare Advantage (also known as Part C).

You can also get Medicare prescription drug coverage to help cover some of the costs of your prescription drugs. AARP’s Medicare Question and Answer Tool is a starting point to guide you through the different Medicare plans.

A: Original Medicare, also known as traditional Medicare, includes Part A and Part B. It allows beneficiaries to go to any doctor or hospital that accepts Medicare, anywhere in the United States. Medicare will pay its share of the charge for each service it covers. You pay the rest, unless you have additional insurance that covers those costs. Original Medicare provides many health care services and supplies, but it doesn’t pay all your expenses. — Read Full Answer

A: You get Part A and Part B of the Original Medicare plan when you’re automatically signed up for Medicare. To get drug coverage under Original Medicare, you must choose and join a Medicare-approved Part D private drug plan. — Read Full Answer

A: It's easy if you receive Social Security retirement benefits: The Social Security Administration will automatically enroll you in Medicare when you turn 65. If you are under 65 and get disability benefits, the Social Security Administration will enroll you in Medicare after you have received benefits for 24 months. — Read Full Answer

A: Medicare Advantage, or Medicare Part C, is a privately run alternative to original Medicare. Medicare Advantage plans are sold by Medicare-approved private insurance companies and must cover the same health care services as original Medicare (except hospice care). — Read Full Answer

A: Medicare Advantage plans are available in most parts of the United States. To begin your search for a plan, use the Medicare Plan Finder at www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan, or contact your local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (or SHIP) at www.shiptacenter.org. — Read Full Answer

A: You can change plans or join original Medicare once a year during the annual open enrollment period, from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7, and your new coverage will begin Jan. 1 of the following year. — Read Full Answer

A: In 2017, most Medicare beneficiaries can choose from a variety of plans from at least six insurance companies. The plans may have different provider networks, cover different drugs at different pharmacies, and can charge different monthly premiums, annual deductibles, and copayments or coinsurance for hospital and nursing home stays, and other services. — Read Full Answer

A: In the initial phase of Part D coverage, you pay roughly 25 percent of the plan's cost for the drug. When you and the drug plan have paid a total of $3,700 for drugs in 2017, you enter the coverage gap or doughnut During this second phase, you will pay no more than 40 percent of the plan's price for a brand-name drug and 51 percent for a generic drug. — Read Full Answer

A: You should receive a monthly statement from your plan showing your total out-of-pocket costs for covered prescription drugs and indicating if that amount puts you in the coverage gap or takes you out. — Read Full Answer

A: The coverage gap or doughnut hole will gradually narrow, if the current law continues as scheduled, until in 2020 and beyond you will pay no more than 25 percent of the cost of any covered drug in the doughnut hole. — Read Full Answer

A: Medigap or Medicare supplemental insurance is sold by private insurance companies and helps pay some of the health care costs original Medicare doesn’t cover, including some or most Medicare deductibles and coinsurance. — Read Full Answer

A: Probably one of the most critical factors is timing. You have a one-time six-month Medigap open enrollment period that starts the month of your 65th birthday and you are enrolled in Part A and Part B. — Read Full Answer

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